Ready for combat?

What a lovely weather we have in Nigeria these days. Some will call it weather for two (he! he!! he!!!) But, the bottom line is it’s not hot but near chilly sometimes. Nice weather to enjoy.

However, I took a look at my skin and the skin of people around me and shock horror dismay!!! I noticed the dryer nature our skin has adapted which calls for a natural combat against dry, flaky or chapped skin.

Cold weather and dry windy condition can wreak havoc on skin, but there is a whole lot of inexpensive ways you can actually keep your skin supple.

Apart from beauty, it will be helpful for you to know that our skin shield us from the element around.

Hence, it gets the first blow from whatever is coming at us. It also assists with detoxification and protects our tissues and organs from damage. Skin also reflects our inner health. It readily shows stress and tension, hormonal imbalance and nutritional deficiencies.

Therefore, the best way to combat dry skin that accompanies the cold and dryer weather is by working from the inside out rather than just slathering on cream and ointments and hoping for the best.

Ready for the combat? Let’s go!!!

·         Water: The main component of a healthy skin. Increases your consumption of water. This will keep your skin properly hydrated. The normal 8 cups of water per day may just not be enough for the combat; you could add a couple more. For every caffeinated or alcoholic beverage you drink, add another glass of water to the total content consumed.

You could make your water flavoured by adding slices of any citrus fruits to it. This will prevent water drinking from getting boring.

·         yesyFats: yes fats and no not such as from your potato chips. Am talking about essential fatty acids.

There are different type of healthy fats, all of which are required to prevent dry skin and chapping.  Fatty fish such as Salmon and Tuna are helpful

Please do find out as many foods that have fatty acids as possible and let chew them down.

·         Food and supplements: you’ll need Vitamin A, E and D. You could take them in supplements form, but I recommend that you also try to eat foods high in these nutrients.

Vitamin A source includes carrots, carrot juice, sweet potatoes, yam and green leafy vegetables.

Vitamin E source includes unsalted seeds and nuts such as pumpkin seeds, sun flower seeds, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts and whole grain cereals and bread.

Vitamin D are manufactured in the body when the skin is exposed to sunlight (please do not roast yourself) but, to get more, you could get sweet potatoes, fish, eggs and sprouts.

·         And now for the outside: Most of our moisturizers, cleansers, soaps etc contain harsh chemicals preservatives, alcohols etc. (do not let the manufacturer lies get you when they say their products are natural few actually live up to their claim).

An oil based moisturizer is best for this period preferably one that contains Vitamin A, E and D. You can also add pure essential oils to your creams and lotion.

A trick you can actually pull off is adding glycerine to your creams...it will work like magic.

Give your skin some TLC (Tender Loving Care) and watch it give you the look you so much desire.

 Till I blog again, Be Good!!!